Blippar, the image recognition and augmented reality platform, demonstrated the first-ever proprietary mobile visual search capability at South by Southwest, an event held in Austin, Texas on 14 March, 2015.
This re-launched version of the original Blippar app will change the way consumers interact with the physical world.
Using the free Blippar app, users will be able to look at any object via the camera on their mobile devices to activate instant digital search and draw information directly.
Blippar will be launching this new capability by first making all English-language music album covers, fiction books, DVD covers and movie posters blippable. When a user blipps one of these items or images they will immediately receive numerous contextual information. For example, if they blipp a music album cover they may be presented with access to videos of the band, a source to buy tickets to an upcoming concert, details on what people are saying about them on Twitter or photos of the band itself.
This is just the first step in Blippar's ambitious mission to make the entire physical world visually searchable via mobile devices and wearables. In the future, Blippar will add to its growing catalogue of objects in stages, with the ultimate aim of making everything searchable right from an apple and a chocolate bar, to a dog on the street and the Eiffel Tower.
"The human imagination, curiosity and the quest for knowledge are all often limited by our capacity to define and assign language to describe and seek answers from the world around us," explained Blippar Founder and CEO Ambarish Mitra
"Today marks the beginning of a new era of search, where curious users will be able to visually search the world through the lens of the Blippar app. The technology holds massive potential for enriching real world experiences and delivering genuine value to our users. The visual search is not replacing text-based search, it's an alternate behaviour which satisfies people's spontaneous needs of instant object focused curiosity, therefore introducing the light web."
Blippar's proprietary search engine is net neutral. Users will be served accurate sources of information within the app, displayed on an intuitive user interface. The speed and accuracy of the Blippar platform will allow users to blipp and access information faster than traditional web search, with no delay. Further, Blippar's location-based predictive computing uses deep learning and artificial intelligence to refine and personalise its visual search results for each user.
Blippar will continue to work closely with brands and agencies to bring products to life through engaging interactive experiences.
The updated Blippar app will available for download on iOS and Android in April 2015.
